The last few weeks have been mostly fun, despite my last post. We have finished Ob/Gyn, and then had 2 weeks of public health training, cultural exploration of Milwaukee, and time to work on our projects. The first day we met with a local historian about the local history of Milwaukee, and met with the medical director of Milwaukee Public Health department who is a great family doc. The variety of work they do in that department is fascinating, everything from vaccinations, STD notifications, restaurant inspections, public education campaigns, and infectious diseases. The next day we spent learning a technique called Asset Based Community Development. The basic idea is that every community that has needs and problems, also has assets, and using and amplifying these assets is the quickest, most sustainable way to improve a community.
The next few days were spent culturally touring Milwaukee. We went to an amazing Latino community center that houses an wonderful art gallery which gets traveling shows from around the world; an elementary and middle school with children who are succeeding amazingly by all objective measurements including tracking through college; a senior center with arts and crafts, games, laundry, meals, and a mean game of pool; low income senior apartments with such a long waiting list that 40 more units are being built this summer; an adult care center for daytime care of seniors with Alzheimer's and dementia that is designed to look like a plaza in Latin America, as people revert to their earliest memories; and a delicious cafe with Mexican and Puerto Rican specialties. Then we went to a delicious Polish restaurant for lunch where we ate fresh pierogis, saurkraut, sausage, broad beans, and latkes with applesauce. YUM!!! Then we went to a Latino artist who makes life sized paper mache dia de las muertes skeleton people, among other cool art. We then went to a little botanica, a Latin store for herbs and other items. The owner was also a practitioner of Orisha and Santeria, Carribean blend Catholicism and African-based Yoruba. Her cute little shop had all sorts of herbs, oils, statues, charms, and everything you would need. I bought a small statue of La Virgen de Guadalupe, as I wanted to have her amoung my pantheon of goddesses on my altar and she represents to me the ability of people to adapt their beliefs to survive an oppressive colonialization. My friend who's wife was expecting to deliver any time as it was 1 week before her due date, was given a Jericho rose, an interesting artemesia plant that is found in desert regions. It grows in a rosette formation and when dried it curls in on itself. He was instructed to put it in water when his wife went into labor, and it would slowly open. To me that seems like part of a longstanding tradition in herbal medicine where if a medicine looks like something, it must treat that thing. So the rose opening up as it rehydrates, seems quite similar to the slow opening of the cervix in labor. This also coincided well with the flowers the couple had been using for this opening type visualization.
After that, we went to St. Josephat, the Catholic cathedral. It is quite beautiful, built from stone around the turn of the century by parishioners who had recently come from Europe, bring their craftsman skills with them. It is elaborately carved, with a huge dome that can be seen for miles. Beautiful stained glass too. I guess this church is a bit controversial because they have put a Virgin of Guadalupe, a Mexican appearance of the Virgin Mary, up on the altar, however it seems like quite a mix of folks use this church, from the descendents of those who built it to the burgeoning Latino population. We were there on Ash Wednesday, so we didn’t stay very long as the church was in constant use, however it was fortunate to coincide with pro-life month and I read some fascinating literature on Planned Parenthood. It seems they are trying to get new customers all the time so they can make money, and they do so by forcing people to take birth control pills and engage in sex acts. The more sex people have, the more abortions people have, and the more money they make. And people get married every year, so they must keep their clientele increasing constantly. I kid you not, this brochure was amazing in its craziness!
It was especially interesting to read because I had spent an afternoon a few weeks ago at the abortion clinic. This is the second time I have done this, and the first time is a lot to take in, but now that I have more clinical experience, it was quite interesting in many ways. The women that were there were from all walks of life, a 15 year old with her mother for support, married women in their 30’s and 40’s who knew they couldn’t take care of more children, women with 10+ children already, women with no children trying to get more education, and most women had partners and friends with them. Many of them had had failed birth control, one even had an IUD that was still in place. In terms of embryonic to fetal development, before 8 weeks, it simply looks like feathery snot. There are no recognizable human parts at all, it is simply tissue and mostly looks like a menstrual period. As time goes on, there is further development and what most people think of a fetus starts to take shape. If you ever decide to have a therapeutic abortion or induced miscarriage (same thing), try to do it early. It is better for you and less difficult too. They don’t use general anesthetic here in Wisconsin, and most women were unmedicated. Some elected to use a little valium combined with a drug called Versed, which causes you to forget about 30 minutes right after you take the drug. This is called twilight anesthesia, and they use it for other procedures like colonoscopy too. Talking to these women, and post colonoscopy patients too, frequently they are in the recovery room asking when they are going to have the procedure done. However the medication certainly is not necessary, as the entire procedure takes about 5 minutes, which includes the pelvic exam and speculum insertion. It is like a slightly more uncomfortable annual pelvic exam. The thing that stands out to me the most about that day is the gratefulness of the women. They were all so thankful, and many had tears in their eyes when expressing their gratitude. Many expressed, that although it may or may not be a challenging decision, they appreciated the services offered and felt it supported them in living their best lives.
The next day we spent visiting a black theater group, in which one of the nationally acclaimed artists had written a series of monologues on the experience of being a black man in the US. These were performed for us as a private group, and it was so moving and powerful. The pieces spoke poignantly on issues of being a father after growing up fatherless, about the struggles of drug addiction from the perspective of the addicted person, and the challenges and fears of returning to the community as a man after going to prison as a young boy. The actors were quite skillful in using their bodies and clothing as well as their voices to portray these amalgamations of people the author has known including himself.
After that, we went to a tiny black church the size of a house, and had a private performance from the Queens of Harmony, a traditional a capella gospel quartet. These ladies have been performing for many years, and the power of a private performance combined with the strength of their singing was amazing. I plan to go see them again in August at their anniversary party, which apparently goes on for many hours with visiting groups. They were all so sweet too, welcoming us with hugs, and telling us how their singing and their faith had helped all of them through some of the most difficult medical situations imaginable. Many had had cancers, and other significant health challenges, but felt that the music and the community had given support and kept them going through the toughest times. After this, we went to a soul food diner, where we had the best fried chicken I have ever had, collard greens, okra, and I even tried some chitterlings, which were disgusting, by the way. But lots of folks ate them up, especially with hot sauce and vinegar. We then went to a fancy hat shop, and tried on some great hats. There were definitely fancy church hats here, but also other nice hats, and a bunch of folks bought something.
We finished out the day at another community center, in a black neighborhood that had been partially torn down in the 60’s to make room for a freeway that never was built. So the neighborhood had been destroyed, neighbors scattered, and nothing built in its place. Over the years, the few boarded up houses had turning to flop house, brothels, and crime centers. In 1997, a woman who had grown up on the street in nicer times, moved back into her parents house she had inherited, bought the flop house across the street for $500, that was about to be demolished and began doing restoration work. It took many years, but Walnut Way Community center was born here, and now lives in a beautiful, 1920’s house that has been meticulously restored and beautifully decorated. The center has grown over the years to have a community garden and orchard where they employ young people in the summer to grow food, tend the trees, and gather honey, and sell it all to the neighborhood and at the local farmer’s market for the center. Each person receives a stipend for their work. There is also a 4H club for 5th -12th graders, a health advocate training program to train community members to be health resources, a cooking club to teach healthy cooking skills, a neighborhood walking group, as well as quarterly open houses to promote the neighborhood and people knowing each other. They have coordinated a block party every year, and they have a neighborhood buying cooperative to help conscientious people, instead of distant landlords, buy houses on the block as they come on the market. A most amazing place, and the woman who started it all Sharon Adams, has just been named one of Milwaukee’s top visionaries of 2010. The nice thing about this center is that is feels nice as well as having nice programs. The rooms are decorated and painted in pleasing ways with wonderful artwork that inspires. There is a compost bucket in the kitchen and al arge island in the center for group food prep. The yard and the yard across the street have raised beds, many fruit trees, and bee boxes.
All in all, a wonderful taste of the bounty that Milwaukee has to offer. It is wonderful to have such an inside view and I continue to like this new city home of mine more and more.
Posts
